Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet ih-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-sims-de154-pkt-ih-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Sims II (DE-154) - full entry (live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim text read via December 2023 Wayback capture of history.navy.mil) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Sims II (DE-154)', specifications block + full service narrative (Wayback capture 2023-12-04)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: second ship named for Admiral William Sowden Sims (the entry's namesake biography recounts his service as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters in World War I); laid down 7 September 1942 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; launched 6 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Anne H. Sims; commissioned 24 April 1943, Lt. Comdr. Charles G. Raible in command. Shakedown off Bermuda; assigned TG 21.6 escorting tankers Curacao-Londonderry, then New York-Londonderry (20 crossings, one tanker sunk). Entered Boston Navy Yard 23 September 1944 for conversion to a high-speed transport; designated APD-50; departed Boston 6 December 1944; training ship at Norfolk to 24 January 1945; Panama Canal, San Diego shakedown, Pearl Harbor 20 February; Philippines 21 March; Leyte Gulf TU 51.13.16 for Okinawa. Off Okinawa 1 April-27 May 1945 in the AA/ASW screen; shot down a bomber 16 April; searched for survivors of kamikaze-hit picket destroyers 3-4 and 13-14 May; 18 May two kamikazes crashed close aboard port side - serious oil leaks and machinery damage, crew repaired and continued patrolling; 24 May a kamikaze crashed close aboard starboard, shrapnel wounded 11 crew; same day her fire and rescue party helped save USS Barry (APD-29). Departed Okinawa 27 May; Leyte repairs; back off Okinawa 26 June; Tokyo Bay Occupation Force 14 August; landed British Marines/RN at Yokosuka 30 August and U.S. Marines at Tateyama 31 August-3 September; Iwo Jima voyage; Japanese home waters to 28 November; disembarked 208 passengers San Diego 17 December 1945; New York preinactivation overhaul; decommissioned Green Cove Springs, Fla. 24 April 1946; Atlantic Reserve Fleet; struck 1 June 1960; sold to North American Smelting Co., Wilmington, Del., 14 April 1961 and scrapped. One battle star. Spec block: Buckley class, 1,400 t, 306 ft, 36 ft 10 in beam, 11 ft 6 in draft, 24 kt, complement 204, one 5-inch and six 40mm guns, three 21-inch torpedo tubes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1961
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1942-43; ship's company 1943-1946 (complement ~204 as APD); Boston Navy Yard conversion workforce Sept-Dec 1944; Atlantic Reserve Fleet caretaker personnel 1946-60
- Limitations
- DANFS documents construction, service history, and specifications - not materials or asbestos content. Its spec-block armament reflects the post-conversion APD fit rather than the as-built DE fit (3x 3-inch/50 per NavSource). Its decommissioning date (24 April 1946) conflicts with NavSource's June 1946 decommissioning and the CO list running to 1 June 1946 - carried in gaps. Live NHHC page 404s; December 2023 Wayback capture cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Sims (DE 154/APD 50) - building/operational data chronology, specifications, commanding-officer list; and NavSource Amphibious Photo Archive APD-50 page (navsource.net/archives/10/04/04050.htm) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/06/154.htm 'Building and Operational Data' + 'Specifications' + 'Commanding Officers' blocks; navsource.net/archives/10/04/04050.htm APD-50 specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology and specification blocks for this hull corroborate and extend DANFS: the page's namesake block records that Sims (DE-154) was the second ship named for Admiral William S. Sims, preceded by DD-409 (in service 1939-1942); keel laid 7 September 1942 at Norfolk Navy Yard; launched and christened 6 February 1943, sponsor Mrs. Anne H. Sims (widow of Admiral Sims); commissioned 24 April 1943 at Pier 2, St. Helena Annex, Norfolk Navy Yard, Berkley, Va.; arrived Brooklyn Navy Yard 28 September 1943 for scheduled maintenance and repair between convoys (NARA photo 19LCM-dd68, moored at Pier C with USS Reybold DE-177, 4 October 1943); reclassified APD-50 7 September 1944, converted at Boston Navy Yard to a Charles Lawrence-class high-speed transport; flagship TransDiv 105 (Capt. J. M. Kennaday); arrived Green Cove Springs 24 April 1946 reporting to Commander, Florida Group, Sixteenth Fleet, for inactivation; decommissioned there June 1946 'after 3 years and 2 months of service' (commanding-officer list runs to Ens. R. G. Hodson, decommissioning CO, through 1 June 1946); struck from the NVR 1 June 1960; sold for scrapping to North American Smelting Co. 14 April 1961. DE specifications: TE type, 1,400 t light/1,740 t full, 306 ft oa, 36 ft 9 in beam, 2 'D' Express boilers, G.E. turbo-electric drive, 12,000 shp, 24 kts, 3x 3"/50 Mk22, hedgehog, 8 Mk6 DCP, 2 Mk9 tracks, complement 15 officers/198 enlisted. APD-50 block: complement 15 officers/189 enlisted plus troop accommodations 12 officers/150 enlisted, 4 LCVP, one 5"/38, 3 twin 40mm, 8 single 20mm.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1961
- Population
- Ship's company 1943-1946; Brooklyn Navy Yard maintenance workforce Oct 1943; Boston Navy Yard conversion workforce Sept-Dec 1944; Green Cove Springs inactivation/reserve-fleet workforce 1946
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained archive transcribing official records (NVR-style dates, DANFS, NARA photo captions) - a secondary compilation, not a primary record; its June 1946 decommissioning date (vs DANFS 24 April 1946) and the CO list support the conflict carried in gaps. Contains no asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-02
-
[4]NavSource DE-154/APD-50 specifications blocks (Buckley class, TE type - 2 'D' Express boilers, G.E. turbo-electric drive) + BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design groups 2-3 (via Buckley class profile) + navypedia TE boiler-block map (B&W for DE-154) + Atlas shipyards.json query; NARA RG 19 archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-154/APD-50 specifications blocks; BuShips SDB 1945 v1 pp. 234-235 (per buckley-class profile ev-buckley-class-01); navypedia us_de_te boiler-block map; shipyards.json (37 yard_ids - 'norfolk-naval-shipyard' and 'boston-naval-shipyard' resolve); NARA asbestos research guide
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: the Buckley class is the turbo-electric (TE) destroyer escort design - one of only two DE classes (with the WGT Butler class) carrying a full steam plant. BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design groups 2-3 document 2 'D' express-type boilers at 435 psi/750F superheat feeding GE turbo-electric machinery, 12,000 shp; the navypedia per-block boiler map assigns Babcock & Wilcox boilers to the DE-153-DE-154 block. A 1942-43 steam-driven combatant would have carried era-standard asbestos applications - boiler/fireroom insulation, steam-line and turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Builder Norfolk Navy Yard is an Atlas shipyard (norfolk-naval-shipyard, tier 2, EPA Superfund-listed with documented asbestos product names); the 1944 APD conversion yard Boston Navy Yard is also Atlas-documented (boston-naval-shipyard, tier 3, litigation product-ID level). Conversion to a high-speed transport (troop berthing, boat davits, armament changes) is a documented yard-disturbance event whose asbestos scope is undocumented. NARA RG 19 correspondence filed under hull code 'DE154' and Boston Navy Yard job records are the archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1961
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1942-43; Boston Navy Yard conversion trades 1944; Brooklyn Navy Yard maintenance workforce 1943; crew 1943-46; Atlantic Reserve Fleet caretaker personnel 1946-60
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No ship-specific asbestos record was located for this hull (see ev-uss-sims-de154-05). Does not quantify material, does not establish any individual's exposure, and does not establish what existed at scrapping. NARA retrieval not performed; Boston Navy Yard conversion work packages not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-03
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[5]CourtListener API v4 search sweep (authenticated fleet helper), 2026-09-28 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-sims-de154-09 through sl-uss-sims-de154-11
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation - and no litigation of any kind - naming this vessel located. Exact-name opinion search '"USS Sims"' returned 1 hit: United States v. Bass, 40 M.J. 220 (CMA 1994) - a Navy court-martial (larceny/forgery) in which 'USS SIMS' appears as the assignment ship of two witnesses among Mayport deploying vessels; during the 1991 trial window the only commissioned Sims was USS W. S. Sims (FF-1059), so the reference is a same-name collision with the later frigate, not this hull. Exact-name docket search returned 1 asbestos hit: Varnum v. Air and Liquid Systems, Inc., 3:15-cv-00450 (S.D. Ill., removal 2015, terminated 2016-02-24) - the state-court complaint (ECF 1-1) alleges plaintiff Mickeal Varnum, USN 1962-66, 'transferred to the USS Sims DDG-18 for about six or seven months' c. 1965-66; no hull named Sims was in commission then (DD-409 sunk 1942; this hull scrapped 1961; FF-1059 commissioned 1970) and no 'DDG-18' Sims ever existed, so the pleading's ship identification cannot be attributed to DE-154/APD-50 - name collision. Hull-number searches: '"DE-154"' returned 31 opinion hits and 715 docket hits, all 'DE 154'/'DE#154' CM/ECF docket-entry citation noise; '"APD-50"' returned 1 opinion hit (Barile v. Dep't of Highways, W. Va. Ct. Cl. 1988 - highway-damage claim) and 6 docket hits (police-department 'APD' references and surname collisions) - none referencing the vessel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Population
- n/a - sweep result
- Limitations
- Search-index coverage only - the Varnum complaint text was pulled and read (the Sims reference is in the plaintiff's work-history narrative, filed 2015); deeper filing-level review of unindexed dockets was not performed. Absence of a located docket does not prove no filing ever named the ship; state-court and unpublished matters are outside the index. 'Sims' is a high-collision term across three Navy hulls (DD-409, DE-154/APD-50, DE/FF-1059) plus a common surname.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-04
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[6]Batch-4065 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC (Wayback), ibiblio HyperWar, NavSource DE/APD archives, uboat.net, NARA guides and Ship Plan Index, Atlas shipyard dataset, CourtListener sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-sims-de154-01 through sl-uss-sims-de154-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, material schedule, abatement contract, or docketed case naming USS Sims (DE-154/APD-50) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was sold for scrapping in April 1961 and broken up, so no custodian, museum disclosure, or present-day hull survey can exist; the scrapping contractor (North American Smelting Co., Wilmington, Del.) postdates any published hazmat-disclosure regime.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - wartime steam-plant DE construction is era-consistent with asbestos use, and the 1944 conversion plus 1946 inactivation at navy yards are documented disturbance events of undocumented scope. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-05
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[7]NARA guided topic 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (RG 19 Bureau of Ships pathway) + NARA Ship Plan Index + ship's war-history submission (NavSource-hosted scan; original in Navy WWII war-diary files) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos; archives.gov/research/cartographic/ship-index (SIMS rows = DD-409 only); navsource.net/archives/06/154.htm 'War History' scan link (images/154/06154wh.jpg)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The open archival path for hull-level material content: NARA RG 19 Bureau of Ships general/confidential correspondence 1940-1946 is filed by hull designation - 'DE154' for this vessel (and 'DE51' for Buckley class correspondence) - with Boston Navy Yard correspondence under its 'NY' yard code for the 1944 APD-conversion job. Deck logs for DE-154/APD-50 (1943-1946) are in RG 24 at Archives II, College Park (WWII-era logs partially digitized). The ship's own war-history submission at war's end survives; a scan is hosted on the NavSource DE-154 page. The NARA Ship Plan Index was checked: it lists SIMS only for DD-409 (RG 19 Alphabetical Ship Drawings NAID 53487083; Microfilm NAID 175670723) - no DE-154 row located in the index.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1961 (records); 2026-09-28 (index check)
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - no NARA record was retrieved; index entries and record-group pathways establish where records would sit, not what they contain. The war-history scan is a ship-submitted narrative and is not expected to address materials. Absence of a DE-154 row in the Ship Plan Index does not prove no plans exist - the index is partial.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sims-de154-06